Hello all,
I was pushing on my non-season Wizard last week with the FB set. I must have used 100s of keys, attempted many GRs, but only got to the RG with some time left maybe 5 times that day. I was very disappointed that my duplicates wouldn’t attack the RG even when I teleported right next to the RG and casted my duplicates.
They just ran backwards or around the RG, but not attack. It cost me my GR 140 clear because I know I have enough damage. I was really frustrated and tired after several hours of trying the first 2 floors of every GR to see if I could make it ahead of the timer by a substantial amount of time. I quit and went to bed when it was night time.
I just wanted to know if it’s laziness on Blizzard’s part for only making the Necro’s pet be able to be commanded to attack whatever it is you want. Why wouldn’t Blizzard update the pets of all classes upon release of “Rise of the Necromancer.” It doesn’t make any sense to me and I hope no one else has had this problem. I may push again, but I would really hate it if I have to not only get a good rift, the right mob type, good pylon spawns in great locations, but the right type of rift guardian to be able to clear a GR 140 in non season. It would take tons of GR fishing to get everything I need and then only get to a Rift Guardian that I can’t kill due to my duplicates not having a good AI or button to target what I need to be killed. That would take way too much time and frustration to get every single thing required to go my way to be able to complete the GR. I do not want to farm 1000s more paragon to beat it through pure brute strength. I have been working on my life outside of this game and botting isn’t an option.
Instead of making a theme or not making a theme at all, but an adjustment to the game like what was done with followers. Why not give all classes who can use pets be able to control their pets? It’s really unbalanced to me that the Necro is superior with pets because it cost 15 bucks to buy the expansion for them. It cost money to buy the game and so all classes should have better pets. Not just the Necro. I mean, Blizzard did away with the RMAH because it made the game very “pay to play”. That’s hypocritical with the Necromancer being stronger because gamers paid Blizzard 15 bucks to play the Necromancer who has superior pets among other things.
The Images are programmed to act as decoys and draw attention away from you so it’s a wonder that they work so well as the do after all. They also have problems targeting and attacking certain rift guardians.
3 Likes
This is not pushing.
Images work the same for everybody. For me only Bone Warlock sometimes can cause some issues. Like 90% of GR 140s should be doable at 4.5k para and good gear. Maybe check some good videos on youtube to better understand timing, positioning, pulling etc.
Some builds require fishing for not only good maps but also good RG, and Firebird is one of those.
I find RGs that float in the air (like Vesalius aka the most annoying RG and Raziel) causes images to wander around more than others. The best RG for Firebird in my experience is Orlash.
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Its ok, mirror images loses their balls every now and then. Maybe next time Blizzard will come up with a new amulet call “Iron Balls of Nephalem” to help wizard address this issues… just may be. 
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Wouldn’t a belt be closer to the goal intended?
Jokes aside, 
, maybe a dedicated item to make the images act like the phalanx might be a solution.
On the other hand it seems like the set is doing extremely well as is.
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Ya, you are right. Hope they made belt transmog possible, love to see how it looks. 
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Yes, they are bad at targetting and attacking RGs. That should get fixed imo. Not just Wizard’s pets, but all classes who have pet builds.
As mentioned, Mirror Images were never really designed for offensive use. The original devs had defensive use in mind, hence the AI is… well, it has room for improvement. Thing is, FB Mirror Images could be a lot of fun, if it wasn’t for their nasty AI and limited skill set… but if this changes to some degree, you should expect to see a nerf bat coming along. Duplicates are annoying to play but still perform this well despite their shortcomings. If they worked like real pets and did their damn job all time, they would be way too strong. Especially when you compare it to everything else.
But the biggest question is whether the devs will leave this build as-is. Going by logic it would make sense if the FB six piece bonus can not even proc from Mirror Image attacks in the first place. The next ptr notes will show if the build is meant to stay. If so, they definitely have to do something for the other options, like Explosive Blast.
Some things I would like them to look into for future iterations:
- scrap the “procs don’t proc procs” dogma - this would mean stuff like Wand of Woh or Etched Sigil autocasts can trigger the 6 piece
- allow DoT based skills to work (if the tickrate is an issue, tone the damage down)
- maybe make AT: Flame Ward work again…
3 Likes
… so they added a counter to Mirror Images. They did not nerf or ban them from triggering FB6 or FB2. Well, unless they ninja-fixed it. As such we can assume that FB Duplicates are working as intended.
I think it was an unintended side effect which they are now keeping because the wizard is KINDA good where it is? There’s 3 things that need to happen:
A. Deathwish needs to not change ALL damage and they buff something else to replace MI.
B. They allow Wand of Woh to affect the 6p, make MI not affect it and possibly nerf the damage of the 6p.
C. Remove MI from affecting it and make that one belt add like 200% or 300% to all damage if you use a primary skill.
Might be other options, but currently, if they just remove the use of MI, FB would probably 10 grifts, maybe more.
Pretty bold of you to think the developers even play Diablo 3 
I think they’ve demonstrated enough they are pretty out of touch on the game.
I mean, I give you this week’s patch notes. All the evidence you need.
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It’s just numbers to them. Once you understand the numbers, you can just make adjustments based on those. For instance, if I want a class to drop 5 grift levels, you’d halve their damage, etc. Don’t need to play the game to understand how it works. The math is consistent with grifts, so it’s just as easy as 123.
I have a feeling this is a problem created by blizzard overlooking MI as being used in the FB rework at all. I think most people would love to see the MI interaction with FB removed entirely because it is not fun at all for this awesome set rework to be turned into a scene with Benny hill playing in the background as your mirror images try to find Waldo while perendi tickles you.
Anyways, i was honestly surprised that the patch notes for s24 ptr didn’t remove MI interaction with FB. It reminds me of the season with static charge monk getting a huge power boost due to an obscure interaction that someone figured out and being yeeted to irrelevancy very quickly.
Anyways, I really hope any other variation of the build can match the power of MI soon ish because as a whole the new FB set is great. Cheers.
For that to happen they need to allow procs and DoTs to trigger FB6… well, unless they want to rework the set another time. Thing is, Mirror Images are horrible but they allow you to use Deathwish which alone quadruples your damage dealt… and Duplicates do the same, if all of them attack and hit. The cherry on top is how you can maintain FB stacks without issues. And all that combined is hard to beat unless you find other ways to trigger the set.
Right now I see three ways to play the set…
First is a pet style… primarily Mirror Images, but Hydra could work the same way. That is, if they allow DoTs and make Hydra projectiles a more reliable source of damage, like piercing, homing or multihit features. As for Mirror Images they might need to tone down the damage output. In return they could increase their reliability and skill set so that they are actually fun to play. That would be beneficial in many ways.
Second way is signature skills… we need more attack speed to reach the 5 APS cap and some improvements for the other signature skills as well, so that Spectral Blades isn’t the only option out there. Maybe even an option to prolong/refresh combustion stacks without having to channel. If they exclude channeling as a whole, they could also change the set so that we could use all channeling skills, not just Disintegrate… as weird as it might be to cause Ignite with a cold skill ^^
And then we have other fire skills. Explosive Blast isn’t there yet, it needs the “proc don’t proc procs” rule to be removed so that Wand of Woh can actually trigger FB6 with every hit. But it might need even more…
Then there are the fire spenders: Meteor, Blizzard, Arcane Orb and Twister. For those we have a bit of a problem. Blizzard is a DoT, doesn’t work at all but even the other three won’t be useful. Not with how the set is designed around an on hit proc that requires both manual casts and frequent hits. No chance in the current state. Period. For that to change, they either need something that allows them to hit multiple times in one go, similar to how an Explosive Blast + Wand of Woh would work or there has to be another damage increase for them. Maybe a boost based on the spent Arcane Power and/or ability cooldown… there are other options like increasing Twisters area of effect and especially it’s hit rate, but those won’t work for Meteor or Blizzard at all. Arcane Orb Scorch is also an issue, it should be able to pierce enemies while also spreading damage over a large area. Otherwise forget making this one work. It might be better to completely forget our spenders, unless they introduce a bunch of new items.
2 Likes
It’s pretty simple the devs should remove this unintended interaction with the images and compensate the firebird with some multipliers… Self cast should the way and it’s much more fun imho… although to be honest with the top contenders being hit with the nerfhammer even if they remove the image interaction FB will still be one of the top builds
As long as I don’t have to hammer keys/buttons to play the set afterwards… honestly I don’t dislike Mirror Images that much if it wasn’t for their lousy AI. We should be happy that this skills sees some use after years of insignificance. Also, if I’m really honest, the interaction with Mirror Images might not have been intended originally, but it works just fine. Had it been me, I would have made Mirror Images a part of the set after realizing this, simply by making some changes during PTR.
(2) Set:
Disintegrate ignites enemies, causing them to take 3000% weapon damage per second until they die. When you die, a meteor falls from the sky and revives you. This effect has a 60 second cooldown. Your Mirror Images attack the nearest ignited target.
(4) Set:
Casting Disintegrate adds Combustion stacks that reduce the cooldown of Teleport by 2% per stack. Stacks up to 50 times. While maintaining Combustion stacks you gain 80% damage reduction and your Mirror Images last until they die or the stacks expire.
(6) Set:
You gain XXXX% increased damage while Ignite is applied to a target. Hitting an Ignited enemy with a non-channeling primary fire spell deals Ignite damage multiplied by Combustion stacks. While not channeling, fire based Arcane Power spenders also scale the Ignite damage with the resource spent on them.
…maybe. If it should be more flexible then “Mirror Images” could be replaced by “pets” or “minions”, so that Hydra is included. The key thing is that Hydra needs extra work as only unruned Hydras work right now and they pale compared to Mirror Images. If their attacks could pierce, or hit multiple times it would look different. Combined with the change to the (6) piece they would deal a ton more damage… Hydra is a spender.
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well in my opinion if you want to play a pet caster then WD should be the way to go.
that mirror image thing is not only a pet-playstyle but on top an utterly annoying one due to the horrible AI of the skill.
unfortunately blizzard decided to keep the playstyle. they added a counter for the mirror images so yeah it’s intended in their eyes, so FB is bound to be a pet set for now…
a pet set with awkward pet behavior.
they had an interesting idea with the FB set. badly executed. in the end everyone plays it with MI because it vastly outperforms every other alternative.
I stopped dreaming the day Blizz botched Firebird 2.0